23 replies to this topic

[Mayhem Lewis]

I don’t know if it’s the phase of the moon or seasonal affective disorder, but the sheer amount of complaining, whining, and cheating accusations from people getting headshotted over the past weekend was both breathtaking and exhausting.

When you consider the sheer number of headshot videos on Reddit, YouTube, etc.—along with all the “how-to” guides, hitbox map PDFs, and build suggestions—landing headshots is becoming pretty mainstream. Personally, I still struggle to hit them consistently, but even a potato like me can manage one or two over the course of a three-hour session. And when I do, it’s usually because someone made a serious mistake, to the extent that I have yet to be accussed of anything because the situation was so obvious in hindsight to the target, which I'm thankful for, but god help anyone who is good at it or trying to get the various headshot achievements

The near-constant whining and screaming of “aimbot!!!” at anyone grinding out headshots over by a few vocal salty bums the last 72 hours? Borderline moronic. Not to mention disingenuous, because many of these same whiners would become even more upset if they were told the person who killed them is known for hitting headshots. What’s their takeaway? That they made a mistake? That they stood still for 6-10 seconds against someone who has been practicing and improving for months while chasing the Guillotine achievement?

Nope. It has to be aimbot or hacks. They just can’t accept that they were punished for standing still and staring downrange. Forget the wealth of resources and dedicated practice around landing headshots—it must be someone else’s fault, right? The really annoying part is that for many of them its just acting to spare their own fragile egos, not big enough to congratulate the shooter or at least just be pissed silently and improve.

Headshots happen. Get on with your lives*.






*And maybe learn to keep moving while you’re at it.

[1453 R]

Headcaps don't belong in a game like MWO.

There. I said it.

Headcaps are an artefact of the tabletop game, where the player controls an entire team of units and losing a single piece to an early freak headcap sucks but is not the end of the game. MechWarrior online is a game where you pilot one 'Mech, one time, in the match, and when that 'Mech goes down you're out and have to leave the game to try and play again. Whether it's a sKiLsHoT, an aimbot, freak happenstance, or whatever else? Getting headcapped blows. It wrecks your match. Yeah, some people are more gracful about it than others - I make a point to try and congratulate whoever landed it when I get blown out by headcap - but that doesn't mean it's remotely cool or fair to lose your entire match in the first ninety seconds because somebody goobered your impossible-to-armor domepiece.

If I were developing MWO with what I know today? Headcaps wouldn't exist. And if they had to exist because of Tabletop Canonicity or whatever, then losing the head component would simply turn off your sensors/targeting, i.e. the stuff the head is supposed to contain other than the pilot.

Because while you are technically correct - headshots do, in fact, happen - this isn't Call of Duty where you can die thirty times in a match without issue, or where suffering a headshot is only two or three rounds of damage you were deprived of. In MWO - a game where, I remind you, it is impossible to properly armor/protect your cranial cabin in any way beyond "twist wildly so you cannot see and thus properly react to your opponent" - losing your 'Mech to headcap often means you've taken less than a tenth of the damage you might've otherwise soaked and suffer a red Arrow of Suck because some clapjob on the other team got lucky.

It feels horrible. You can mock people about 'fragile egos' all you want, but losing your entire game and having to sit through matchmaking again with your 'Mech you wanted to play locked up for the next twenty minutes because of a lucky shot is never not going to spike someone's mood. Why should we celebrate that crap?

[LordNothing]

if there were more annihilators i probibly would have farmed more heads in the solaris event. i picked up a couple when i did my loot bags (while i was still in t2 i might add).

[Asylum Choir]

Possible and likely are two separate things.

[PurplePuke]

1453 R, on 24 March 2025 - 06:28 AM, said:

Headcaps don't belong in a game like MWO.

There. I said it.
Why should we celebrate that crap?

Because it takes skill, that's why. Stop whining.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

PurplePuke, on 24 March 2025 - 10:24 AM, said:

Because it takes skill, that's why. Stop whining.

Ehhhhhhh, idk about that, while I know some can headshot even in high level play it's most often luck than anything. The little time they do come up means that as a mechanic it isn't a good one. Being able to completely remove a 100 ton mech from the field for little investment sucked in TT let alone in this game. I don't mind having "weakpoints" but it should scale with the amount of health and not be constant across the board.

A majority of my headshots are luck from just generally aiming for the center torso which is where a majority of heads are.

Edited by Quicksilver Aberration, 24 March 2025 - 10:31 AM.

[BlueDevilspawn]

The irony of headshots being possible but more difficult in MWO is that it contributes to the snowballs/stomps that so many people bemoan. It's perfectly possible to chain together headshots in other first person shooters to even up a kill count.
It's far less likely in MWO. That and the amount of HP to chew through makes coming back from a kill deficit less likely unless everything left is one-touch. Let's be clear.... MWO is still literally one of the slowest, if not THE slowest, shooters available today.

[VeeOt Dragon]

been playing for YEARS myself and i have only managed i think 2 headshots (though i do have hand tremors so getting that precise is hard for me) in all that time. given how things are i would be more expecting cheating than legit skill if i got domed from halfway across the map. up closer where your mech is more than a single pixel i can see but not from that kind of range (and i have been hit from that kind of range in the head, thankfully i was out of their full damage range and i always put full armor there).

even those that can regularly get headshots without assistance or luck often use things such as macros (something i personally see as cheating even if it isn't against any of PGI's rules) , high end peripherals, and high end monitors to do so. (i play this on a 780p monitor, a pretty good though not top of the line PC, and el cheapo ligitech keyboard/mouse/headset.)

also one must remember that the vast majority of people who play MWO do it for fun. they don't feel the need spending their leisure time scrolling through guides that are likely out of date and spending hours upon hours every day practicing to "git good". most people will pop on play maybe a couple hours then go do other stuff needs doing. most of us just care where the general hit boxes are so we can focus our fire, nothing more.

[BlueDevilspawn]

Macros are typically used to stagger multiple weapons close together (e.g., 6 ERLL) to avoid triggering ghost heat. They are not in anyway related to headshots (I don't use them fwiw). I amassed the bulk of my headshots on a 2018 gaming laptop as opposed to my current overkill rig so whatever, you don't need to "pay" to headshot anyone. Finally, I can say that head hitboxes have not changed and are not outdated. Some of the easiest to headshot mechs are and have always been the likes of the Cataphract, Battlemaster, MAD II, MAD IIC, Hellbringer.... stare at your own detriment.
In any case, OP's original point was that headshots are no mystery.

Edited by BlueDevilspawn, 24 March 2025 - 06:23 PM.

[Rosarius]

I R CONTRIBUTE TO THRED

[LordNothing]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 24 March 2025 - 10:30 AM, said:

Ehhhhhhh, idk about that, while I know some can headshot even in high level play it's most often luck than anything. The little time they do come up means that as a mechanic it isn't a good one. Being able to completely remove a 100 ton mech from the field for little investment sucked in TT let alone in this game. I don't mind having "weakpoints" but it should scale with the amount of health and not be constant across the board.

A majority of my headshots are luck from just generally aiming for the center torso which is where a majority of heads are.

this is true but for the most part my headshots are primarily against assault mechs. i think the smallest mech i intentionally hsed was a wolverine, and that one was shutdown. id seen it as another disadvantage to running a dominant mech class. never shut down in an assault and always keep your torso moving. i feel the same way about light mechs too. if you want to run a dominant weight class, it comes with some caveats. every mechwarrior game has had issue with assaults being completely dominant and mwo is the only one that found legit ways to deal with it. then you get whines from pilots who buy assaults and think they can brute force their way to victory. it saddens me to see how much hate the one thing pgi did right gets. assaults are a lot more nuanced and requires significant forethought to use effectively.

an aside i really love the new hs effect. it only took a decade to match this capability of mwll.

Edited by LordNothing, 24 March 2025 - 07:28 PM.

[1Exitar1]

I can count the number of head shots I have delivered on one hand and still have fingers left over. I know two of them were against King Crabs and one was done in one match and the other was done in the match after that. The only time I try for them now is if I am in a lot of trouble and I know where the cockpit is, like in the Atlas. I truly don't pay attention to where they are. I am far more likely to leg you and then run circles around you.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

LordNothing, on 24 March 2025 - 07:27 PM, said:

this is true but for the most part my headshots are primarily against assault mechs. i think the smallest mech i intentionally hsed was a wolverine, and that one was shutdown. id seen it as another disadvantage to running a dominant mech class. never shut down in an assault and always keep your torso moving. i feel the same way about light mechs too. if you want to run a dominant weight class, it comes with some caveats. every mechwarrior game has had issue with assaults being completely dominant and mwo is the only one that found legit ways to deal with it. then you get whines from pilots who buy assaults and think they can brute force their way to victory. it saddens me to see how much hate the one thing pgi did right gets. assaults are a lot more nuanced and requires significant forethought to use effectively.

Speed is life, so stopping in a light mech to line that headshot up is typically how you die over just burning the mech down, especially since most light mechs don't have the alpha to even bother. Typically it's the heavier mechs doing the headshots against other heavier mechs so this doesn't honestly line up with reality if people really think it's a good way for lighter mechs to "counter" heavier mechs.

[Saved By The Bell]

I have around 65 headshots in 5 years. Its rare, if you don't go for them.

[crazytimes]

Gotten fairly consistent with hitting the head... Just not with full alphas for the kills. Ultimately it's the central cockpit glass pane on most mech models, it's not hidden, its just small. Its usually surrounded by CT. If someone stares it's worth at least aiming the cockpit area, worst case you do CT damage.

Don't stare, chances go down a lot. Don't strip head armour in anything that needs FaceTime or relies on hill humping. Don't sit still even if you think you're safe.

[Wraith 1]

The fun of getting a headshot is way more unique and interesting than the disappointment of being killed by a headshot. Tons of games have instant, unfair-feeling kills, but very few have anything that demands as much accuracy and precision as a headshot in MWO.

If anything is a problem, it's weapons like 3xHPPC or 2xHGR, which have enough PPFLD damage with the same velocity to get lucky headshots on moving targets with max armor and survival tree. I get roughly as many headshots with 6xAC5 and 4xLB20 builds, but only when I'm actually trying to.

It's not a problem though, since those PPFLD builds have huge and easily exploited weaknesses (and are just plain fun to play), and convergence on faster targets often makes it so that landing all the projectiles on the head is impossible even with the same velocity.

[GreyNovember]

Funny enough Solaris taught me that Stone Rhinos seem to have their Head Hitbox VERY distinct from everything else on their body when you go into thermals.

I don't know if that's ACTUALLY the head hitbox, but given how clearly defined it was from the rest of the mass?

[Tarl Cabot]

I believe most of my headshots have been against Atlas and Ravens. For Ravens, it has been when they are peaking over a hill or inclined walkway. Early on, if headshots had been more prevalent with a huge uproar, PGI may have altered the dynamics where only a percentage hit the cockpit and the rest spread to the torso since even a small CoF wasnt utilized.

Still, watching some of Herod's videos, especially achieving headshots with ERLL, now that was something.

[LordNothing]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 24 March 2025 - 08:27 PM, said:

Speed is life, so stopping in a light mech to line that headshot up is typically how you die over just burning the mech down, especially since most light mechs don't have the alpha to even bother. Typically it's the heavier mechs doing the headshots against other heavier mechs so this doesn't honestly line up with reality if people really think it's a good way for lighter mechs to "counter" heavier mechs.

i was speaking more of the backstabbing light. most of my headhunter builds are assaults or heavies (anything with a 40-point ppfld or strong pulse laser quirks, most lights just dont have the alpha). the point i was getting at is that assaults need to come with weaknesses, and being susceptible to headshots and backstabs is part of that.

Edited by LordNothing, 25 March 2025 - 06:54 PM.

[LordNothing]

Tarl Cabot, on 25 March 2025 - 04:50 PM, said:

I believe most of my headshots have been against Atlas and Ravens. For Ravens, it has been when they are peaking over a hill or inclined walkway. Early on, if headshots had been more prevalent with a huge uproar, PGI may have altered the dynamics where only a percentage hit the cockpit and the rest spread to the torso since even a small CoF wasnt utilized.

Still, watching some of Herod's videos, especially achieving headshots with ERLL, now that was something.

im 1/8th the way to guillotine. a good 75% of them were in solaris.